Ingo Hasselbach has had an odd carrier.

He turned his back on the neo-Nazi scene in 1993. He then committed himself to being a model dropout. He provided a good example, tried to keep young people from joining the scene or showed them the way out.

As one of the initiators of the dropout program "Exit," Hasselbach is one of the most prominent former neo-Nazis in Germany today. He says that he has shown more than 200 eager dropouts the way out of the neo-Nazi scene. That's over now though. Ingo Hasselbach doesn't want to be a former neo-Nazi anymore; the dropout program will have to carry on without him. In the past two years he has refused all interview requests. Hasselbach is on his way out again.

He made an exception for DW-WORLD. The reason for the change of heart was the film "Führer Ex," which has been showing in Germany since early December. It tells the story of Heiko, a young Berliner in Communist East Germany (GDR) , who goes to jail for trying to escape from the country and for unpatriotic behavior. The brutality and abuse he experiences there send Heiko towards the extreme right wing.

Mirroring reality

Heiko's story is based on Ingo Hasselbach's life. The former neo-Nazi worked on the screenplay as well. When he watches "Führer Ex" today he sees himself mainly in Heiko's time in prison. "It's a mirror for me, even though it's someone I don't know anymore."

Despite the financial difficulties which slowed down director Winfried Bonengel's completion of the film, Hasselbach is glad that he was part of it. He was again shown what made him into a right-wing radical in the GDR.

Feelings instead of ideology

But "Führer Ex" doesn't show much of the ideological reasons that made young people in the GDR join the right-wing scene – a point that is frequently criticized. Hasselbach counters that the film is only meant to tell his individual story. At the same time, it is also the story of most GDR neo-Nazis. "It was important to me to show the kind of bond that we in the right-wing scene -- as opponents of the prescribed anti-fascism -- were looking for." Hasselbach speaks of the feeling that the state had just given up on them – the young people – "locked up and the key thrown away." And he can easily recall the rage that he felt about everything and everyone.

Hasselbach thinks the film is still topical even though -- or perhaps because -- it shows so little ideology. "The film addresses young people between 14 and 18 years. Then it gets more complicated: Some one who's still in the scene at 20 hardly has a chance to get out of it again. For everyone who's younger the scene is a sort of adventure playground." A bond, someone who listens, takes you by the hand, an individual youth culture – these are all things that young people still find in the scene, according to Hasselbach.

The end of ideologies

Winfried Bonengel and Ingo Hasselbach didn't want to make an ideological film, because they knew that it could have negative consequences. Hasselbach recalls the irritation that Bonengel's 1993 documentary "Profession: Neo-Nazi" caused in Germany. At the time the right-wing scene used the film as a means to an end.

The former neo-Nazi now wants to be left in peace and not to cope with his past in public anymore. Asked whether he could imagine another film, Hasselbach laughs and says no. He can't imagine a story about his years as a prominent former neo-Nazi in Germany either. He goes serious again: "It's over. Besides that could deter lots of people from getting out of the scene."